Pressure mounts for Libby clemency

White House loyalists have begun arguing that clemency for I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby -- either a pardon or a commuted sentence -- would be a way for an embattled President Bush to reassert himself, particularly among conservatives.

The White House has not ruled out a pardon for Libby, sources say. But several Republicans, who sense a movement in Libby’s favor, said a more likely possibility might be a presidential commutation -- a reduction or elimination of Libby's 2½-year federal prison sentence. Such a move, they said, would be less divisive for the country.

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A well-connected Republican whose views have reached Bush’s inner circle said that if Libby goes to prison, “It would be seen by the religious and policy conservatives as the president abandoning his loyalty virtue for the hedonistic pleasure of political expediency.”

If Paris goes, Scooter goes

Several prominent Republicans, however, remain pessimistic about the chances of a pardon, acknowledging that Bush -- buffeted by the war in Iraq and a bruising immigration debate at home that has enraged much of the GOP base -- can ill afford another major controversy.

And Democrats are poised to pounce if Bush gives Libby a break. Dave “Mudcat” Saunders, an adviser to Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, said the brouhaha over heiress Paris Hilton would make it easier to get traction for charges that Libby was getting special privileges.

“Scooter Libby is in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Saunders said. “If Paris had to go to the slammer, Scooter should get his pajammers.”

Convicted by a federal jury in March of obstruction of justice, perjury and lying to the FBI during the CIA leak investigation, Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff is to surrender in the next few weeks to begin serving his sentence, if his emergency appeal is rejected.

Some Republicans sense momentum toward some kind of presidential action toward Libby, as evidenced by the increased openness shown by the 2008 GOP presidential candidates to a pardon.

Libby pardon politically good?

At first, the presidential contenders shied away from the topic, but former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said during their last debate in New Hampshire that the sentence was “grossly excessive,” and others said a pardon should be considered.

“When Scooter first got indicted, the reaction was that it was unthinkable to consider a pardon -- everybody was in the Marc Rich mode,” said an adviser to one of the Republican presidential campaigns, referring to the controversial last-minute pardon for the fugitive billionaire by President Bill Clinton.

“Now, it’s about 75 percent there that it would be politically good. The only people who aren’t going to like it are people who slam you every day, anyway.”

The adviser explained a possible political upside for the president, who is at historic lows in the public opinion polls, this way: “The very bedrock of believers in conservativism -- across the spectrum, from the religious to the intellectual to the ones who care about national security to the federalists and libertarians -- have been disappointed in some way by this administration. This is something they’re all united around.”